Eugene O'Neill was born on October 16, 1888, in New York City, the youngest son of James (an actor) and Ella Quinlan O'Neill. O'Neill was educated at a Catholic boarding school and at Betts Academy in Stamford, Connecticut, before attending Princeton University in 1906. He was dismissed from Princeton a year later because of a poor scholastic record. In 1909, O'Neill married Kathleen Jenkins and went to Honduras to join a gold-prospecting expedition. He returned to New York in 1910, the year his son, Eugene Gladstone O'Neill Jr. was born.

In 1910, O'Neill sailed to Argentina, returning destitute the following year. He then shipped as a seaman from New York to Southampton, England, returning in August. O'Neill's personal life was chaotic, and he drank heavily. O'Neill was divorced from his wife in 1912. Later in 1912, he attempted suicide by taking a drug overdose. After his recovery, he discovered he had tuberculosis, and he...